HTC Crash Intensifies, June Sales Down 68% YoY

HTC’s downward spiral is continuing with the largest sales drop in nearly two and a half years, as revealed by the company’s latest financial statement issued earlier today. Over the course of June, HTC generated the equivalent of $72 million, down 68-percent compared to the same period a year ago when its turnover amounted to approximately $230 million.

The company’s sales are also down $8 million sequentially, whereas its unaudited consolidated revenue for the first half of 2018 comes down to about $510 million, equating to a year-over-year drop of nearly 50-percent.

The Taipei, Taiwan-based technology company recently announced intentions to lay off some 1,500 employees, or roughly a quarter of its global workforce. The majority of the incoming layoffs that are expected to be completed by fall will be targeted at the firm’s home country where HTC already parted ways with hundreds of engineers in early 2018 as part of a $1.1 billion deal with Google that also provided the Alphabet-owned tech giant with non-exclusive rights to its patent portfolio.

The original equipment manufacturer consolidated its regional mobile and virtual reality divisions several months back as part of another effort to cut costs and streamline operations but the speed at which its sales are dropping is presently outpacing all of its attempts to run a tighter business moving forward.

HTC‘s struggles are also reflected on its activities in the mobile segment; the number of new devices the company launched in the first half of this year is about half of that from the same period in 2017 and the U12 Plus is widely believed to be its only high-end smartphone for 2018. The firm is now turning its focus to Vive-branded VR products and services, as well as emerging technologies such as 5G and IoT, though many analysts remain highly skeptical about its long-term prospects if sales don’t start picking up soon.